Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Act,

Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Act, a measure passed in 1851 as the outcome of a ferment of Protestant zeal, awakened by an edict issued by the Papal court in 1850, dividing Great Britain into territorial bishoprics, under an Archbishop of Westminster. The Act of 1851, passed by Lord John Russell, declared the papal edict null and void, and imposed penalties on persons assuming Catholic titles named from bishoprics, deaneries, &c. in England or Ireland. No prosecution took place under the act, the popular excitement died down, and the act was finally repealed in 1871. No opposition was made to the constitution of a regular Catholic hierarchy in Scotland in 1878, with territorial titles.